Hostages taken as militants besiege Philippine city
Philippine president vows to be ruthless in combating terror in Mindanao
ILIGAN ( Philippines): Militants who triggered martial law in southern Philippines when they rampaged through a city are threatening to kill a priest and other hostages, the Catholic Church said.
President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law across the southern region of Mindanao on Tuesday after the militants, who have declared allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group, battled with security forces and burnt buildings.
Duterte warned the martial law would be “harsh” and like a dictatorship in an effort to quell not just the gunmen in Marawi, a mostly Muslimpopulated city of 200,000 people, but the rising threat of ISinspired militancy emanating from Mindanao.
Marawi Bishop Edwin de la Pena said the militants forced their way into the Marawi Cathedral and seized a Catholic priest, 10 worshippers and three church workers.
The priest, Father Chito, and the others had no role in the conflict, said Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.
“He was not a combatant. He was not bearing arms. He was a threat to none,” Villegas said of Chito.
“His capture and that of his companions violates every norm of civilized conflict. They have threatened to kill the hostages if the government forces unleashed against them are not recalled,” Villegas said in a statement.
A regional military spokesman said Villegas’ report had yet to be verified.
Details from inside Marawi were sketchy because it appeared to be sealed off and without electricity.
The fighting erupted on Tuesday after security forces raided a house in Marawi where they believed Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of the infamous Abu Sayyaf kidnapforransom gang and Philippine head of IS, was hiding.
The United States regards Hapilon as one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists, offering a bounty of US$5mil (RM21mil) for his capture.
More than 100 gunmen responded to the raid by burning buildings and conducting other diversionary tactics, according to Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
Thousands of residents fled Marawi, according to an AFP photographer at a military checkpoint near Iligan, the next biggest city about 40km away.
“We heard a lot of gunfire and explosions. We hid inside, we were too frightened to go out,” Noraisa Duca, a Muslim resident of Marawi, said at the checkpoint.
The gunmen killed one policeman and two soldiers on Tuesday, authorities said.
They reported further skirmishes overnight in Marawi but on Wednesday afternoon it was unclear how many militants were still in the city or if they had escaped into nearby mountains and forests.
Security analysts say Hapilon has been trying to unite Filipino militant groups that have professed allegiance to IS.
These include the Maute group, which is based near Marawi.
Muslim rebels have been waging a rebellion since the 1970s for an independent or autonomous home land in Mindanao, with the conflict claiming more than 120,000 lives.
The main Muslim rebel groups are involved in peace talks with the government.
But the Abu Sayyaf, Maute and other hardline groups want to set up a caliphate in the south for IS, according to security analysts.
The US and other Western governments warned this month that terrorists were planning to kidnap foreigners in tourist hotspots in the western and central Philippines, adding to longstanding advisories of abduction threats in Mindanao. — AFP/AP
Duterte threatens national martial law
Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned that martial law would be “harsh” and like a dictatorship, after imposing military rule in the south of the country to combat militants.
Duterte declared martial law in the southern region of Mindanao, home to about 20 million people, on Tuesday night after gunmen who had declared allegiance to the Islamic State group rampaged through a southern city.
At least three security force personnel died on Tuesday as they battled the militants in Marawi, a mainly Muslim city of about 200,000 people, with authorities reporting that gunmen burned a Catholic Church and other buildings.
“Our fellow Filipinos, do not be too scared,” Duterte said from Moscow, where he had just begun an official visit that he abruptly ended to fly home and deal with the crisis.
Duterte vowed to be ruthless in quelling the terrorism threat in Mindanao, drawing parallels with martial law imposed by dictator Ferdinand Marcos during his two-decade rule that ended with a “People Power” revolution in 1986.
“It could not be any different from what President Marcos did,” Duterte said, as he reminded Filipinos of his election campaign pledge last year to be “harsh” in dealing with terrorism.
“What I told everyone, do not force my hand into it. I have to do it to preserve the Republic of the Philippines, the Filipino people,” he said.
Duterte also said that martial law in Mindanao could last up to a year and was considering imposing martial law through the central third of the Philippines known as the Visayas, because this region is very close to Mindanao.
He then also raised the prospect of the northern third of the Philippines, known as Luzon and home to the capital of Manila, falling under martial law.
“If I think that the IS has already taken foothold also in Luzon, and terrorism is not really far behind, I might declare martial law throughout the country to protect the people,” he said.
Critics of Duterte, who has waged a controversial war on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives, have feared that he may use various security threats as an excuse to impose a form of authoritarian rule.
Opposition Senator Francis Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party, expressed concern yesterday that martial law could lead to military abuses, citing extrajudicial killings under Marcos.
“Our painful experience with the imposition of martial law under the Marcos dictatorship should serve as a reminder that we must, as citizens, stay vigilant,” Pangilinan said in a statement.
The fighting in Marawi erupted on Tuesday afternoon after security forces raided a house where they believed Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of the infamous Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang and Philippine head of IS, was hiding.
The United States regards Hapilon as one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists, offering a bounty of US$5mil (RM21mil) for his capture.
More than 100 gunmen responded to the raid by burning buildings and conducting other diversionary tactics, according to Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
Photos posted on social media by residents showed the gunmen walking through the streets of Marawi and placing black flags that looked similar to those used by IS. — AFP